title: The hemodynamic effects of newborn caudal anesthesia assessed by transthoracic echocardiography: a randomized, double-blind, controlled study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caudal anesthesia has been increasingly used in abdominal, urinary tract, and lower extremity surgery of infants. However, little was known about the hemodynamic effects of caudal anesthesia in them, especially in neonates. The purpose of this prospective study was designed to investigate the hemodynamic alterations by transthoracic echocardiography in newborn baby after caudal anesthesia with plain Bupivacaine or with epinephrine added Bupivacaine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty full-term newborn infants scheduled for lower abdominal or urinary tract surgery were randomly allocated into three groups (n = 10 each) as follows: (i) GA group: general anesthesia with sevoflurane; (ii) GA+CP group: GA with sevoflurane, combined with caudal anesthesia of plain Bupivacaine (1.25 ml x kg(-1) of 0.2%); (iii) GA+CA group: sevoflurane GA combined with caudal anesthesia of epinephrine-added Bupivacaine (1.25 ml x kg(-1) of 0.2% Bupivacaine plus 1/200,000 epinephrine). Cardiac output (CO), arterial blood pressure, and heart rate were measured before (T-5) and 5(T5), 10(T10), 15(T15) min after performance of caudal anesthesia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In GA group, no significant hemodynamic alteration was observed in comparison with T-5, except HR, which decreased by 7% at T15; In GA+CP group, compared with T-5, HR decreased significantly at T5, T10 and T15, respectively, by 6%, 7% and 10%. And also CO decreased significantly at T15 by 8% compared with T-5; In GA+CA group, no significant hemodynamic alteration was observed expect diastolic arterial blood, which decreased significantly at T15 by 10% compared with T-5; At T15, the larger decrease of systolic arterial blood in GA+CP group and GA+CA group vs (GA) group (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study shows the stability of hemodynamic variables during caudal anesthesia with Bupivacaine and with epinephrine-added Bupivacaine in newborn infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. dengmeng05@163.com
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000763:Anesthesia, Caudal / Q000379:methods*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004452:Echocardiography; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D002045:Bupivacaine; D004837:Epinephrine